His Holiness the Dalai Lama prostrates in front of a statue of Buddha at the Buddha Vihara in Gulbarga, Karnataka. Deccan Herald photo.

Deccan Herald [Sunday, December 20, 2009 01:54]

Gulbarga - Delivering a discourse on ‘The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism’ on the occasion of the first anniversary of Buddha Vihara here on Saturday the Tibetan leader in exile said that religious tolerance of ‘Aryabhoomi,’ a reference to India found in Mahabharata, has been in existence in this country from thousands of years.

“Not only Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which are the native religions but also Christianity and Islam have flourished here. Religious tolerance is inherent in Indian tradition,’’ Dalai Lama said.

“There may be a few differences. Constructive criticism of any religion is acceptable. But the basic tenets such as love, compassion, truth, brotherhood etc remain the same in all religions," he added.

Dalai Lama said that there was not much difference between Hinduism and Buddhism except in a few aspects.Large number of people including those from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and different parts of Karnataka had arrived to listen Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama is on a two-day visit to Gulbarga exclusively for delivering religious discourses at the newly built Buddha Vihara. He had visited the Vihara in January this year.

The Dalai Lama has good reason to laud the religious tolerance of India, bearing in mind recent events.However, eitther he has a short memory or was speaking ironically.[Snipped for TOS]--Edited by Laura

This isn't the setting to discuss or debate the Shugden controversy. Please review the TOS. All people are welcome here but the Shugden controversy is off limits for discussion. This is a polite warning but further disruptions will be removed without notice.

LauraJ wrote:This isn't the setting to discuss or debate the Shugden controversy. Please review the TOS. All people are welcome here but the Shugden controversy is off limits for discussion. This is a polite warning but further disruptions will be removed without notice.

Thanks

it was not my intention to discuss the 'forbidden' issue at all, nor did I. I merely posted in respect of the Dalai Lama's comments and his documented actions with respect to religious feedom, which was the topic. There was no discussion. I mentioned one area which was the cause of such action, which is surely not outside the ToS I have read.

The OP commented on the Dalai Lama's praise for religious freedom. In that context, how he behaves and speaks with respect to that OP is surely fair comment. It was not off-topic and within the 'almost anything goes' nature of the Lounge.

I have no more to say on his praise for India's religious tolerance, enshrined in law, which I have experienced for myself many times.

For clarification, this is from the TOS. Nevertheless, I've tried to leave as much in place as possible.

4. Discussion of Controversial Practices and Traditions

In light of certain contentious practices and traditions that exist within the scope of Vajrayana Buddhism, the Dharma Wheel website will abide by instructions given to practitioners by the Dalai Lama in regards to discussion of controversial issues, practices, and images. For more information on these instructions, please refer to the Dalai Lama's words on this matter.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama prostrates in front of a statue of Buddha at the Buddha Vihara in Gulbarga, Karnataka. Deccan Herald photo.

Deccan Herald [Sunday, December 20, 2009 01:54]

Gulbarga - Delivering a discourse on ‘The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism’ on the occasion of the first anniversary of Buddha Vihara here on Saturday the Tibetan leader in exile said that religious tolerance of ‘Aryabhoomi,’ a reference to India found in Mahabharata, has been in existence in this country from thousands of years.

“Not only Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism which are the native religions but also Christianity and Islam have flourished here. Religious tolerance is inherent in Indian tradition,’’ Dalai Lama said.

“There may be a few differences. Constructive criticism of any religion is acceptable. But the basic tenets such as love, compassion, truth, brotherhood etc remain the same in all religions," he added.

Dalai Lama said that there was not much difference between Hinduism and Buddhism except in a few aspects.Large number of people including those from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and different parts of Karnataka had arrived to listen Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lama is on a two-day visit to Gulbarga exclusively for delivering religious discourses at the newly built Buddha Vihara. He had visited the Vihara in January this year.

Yes, there is really tolerance and respect. As we can experience the painful obscured "comfort" in own mind by mockery or gossip to other religion people in our clinging. By respect and like The Dalai Lama says; "love, compassion, truth and brotherhood, we remain the same" and dwelling in peace in interaction with each other is present. Respect is in love and insight.

His Holiness the Dali Lama is a excellent teacher and communicator. I do believe however he adjusts his communications to his audiences on occasion for compassionate purpose.

To the issue.....to my knowledge several years ago, the Indian Supreme Court did state that Buddhism(and Jainism) were considered to be Hindu beliefs.Which seems to impinge upon the ability of their followers to have them considered as seperate religions.

And the history of Indian is rift with relgious intolerance of all sorts, especially as concerns HIndu consideration of Muslims and Muslim consideration of Hindus. And most recently with some select provincial Hindu support within India for the Tamil Tigers engaged in conflict with Buddhists in Sri Lanka.

So to the point there seems to be also a history of intolerence in India as well. As concept I'd suggest most nations adhere to the notion of religious tolerance. As a actuality I'd suppose few do.

"This order considers that progress can be achieved more rapidly during a single month of self-transformation through terrifying conditions in rough terrain and in "the abode of harmful forces" than through meditating for a period of three years in towns and monasteries"....Takpo Tashi Namgyal.

In the interest of transparency and clarification, when the controversy between NKT and WSS came up I removed links on both sides of the issues and left as much in tact as I could. In other words, this subject is divisive and usually contentious and it's in the TOS as being the one and only subject that we would like to leave alone at DW. That does include discussion of it from either side of the issue.

There are many, many places to discuss that issue on the web. And at Dharma Wheel there are countless things that can be discussed! But the entire DW team decided that this one single subject only leads to one road and it's usually endless bickering and divisiveness.

I hope you all understand and if you take issue with our TOS please write to the team. I do appreciate everyone's understanding and cooperation. I do try to leave all posts alone as much as possible but there is the occasional need to step in and help keep discussions within our terms of service. We do wish for this to be a place where the dharma discussions can flourish.

ronnewmexico wrote:To the issue.....to my knowledge several years ago, the Indian Supreme Court did state that Buddhism(and Jainism) were considered to be Hindu beliefs.Which seems to impinge upon the ability of their followers to have them considered as seperate religions.

I think one thing that needs to be remembered is that Hinduism isn't simply one homogeneous, completely standardized religion. In actuality, it's more like a collection of hundreds of different religions and philosophies, so the fact that all the different types of Hindus can even coexist with each other is quite remarkable--especially considering the massive number of people (and therefore Hindus) in India.

In some other religions, there are only a few main sects, but the ideological divisions between them lead to intense hatred and conflict.

India certainly has its problems, but it deserves praise for showing such hospitality to His Holiness the Dalai Lama over the past half century. This alone shows great religious tolerance.

Well to post a cynical reply .....certainly it is true that India has harbored HHDL and accomodated Tibetan Refugees to their great esteem. It however is also true that a stick in the eye to its largest rival in this part of the world, China, offers quite a political impetus to harbor both HHDL and the refugees. A continual stick in the eye.

And as spiritual leader HHDL may say many things. But as political leader of a rival to the established religion of the country that is harboring him and his peoples, (Buddhism since it mainly does not recognize caste system, threatens the caste system still present in many parts of India a offshoot of a part of HIndu iideology) how could he state otherwise? It would threaten such status.

So being mostly cynical in the political I'd venture he basically has to say such things, and it is not untrue as regards Tibetan Buddhism. But the reality of India as regards religious tolerance.....it seems to leave a lot to be desired. Better than some worse than a lot of others. Great as regards Tibetan Buddhism bad as regards Islam perhaps. Bad as regards Sri Lankan Theravadan Buddhism, great as regards minority religions of many denominations. So a mixed bag.

Like Robert Thurmans pictograph of ancient Tibet being a perfect mandella of spiritualism it is nice to think of such things in such ways (many in India consider India similiarily the spiritual capital of the world) but the reality seems to conflict with the idea of the reality.

To my cynical opinion.

Perhaps this is why HHDL has stated he, with his death and reincarnation, would want to see the office of the Dali Lama reduced to a entirely religious spiritual entity. The political necessitates such things as these to my opinion.

"This order considers that progress can be achieved more rapidly during a single month of self-transformation through terrifying conditions in rough terrain and in "the abode of harmful forces" than through meditating for a period of three years in towns and monasteries"....Takpo Tashi Namgyal.

muni wrote:As we can experience the painful obscured "comfort" in own mind by mockery or gossip to other religion people in our clinging. By respect and like The Dalai Lama says; "love, compassion, truth and brotherhood, we remain the same" and dwelling in peace in interaction with each other is present. Respect is in love and insight.

Indeed His Holiness.

There is a quote from a teaching by Venerable Chodron I love! :

"Seeing the faults of others is about missing opportunities to love. It's also about not having the skills to properly nourish ourselves with heart-warming interpretations as opposed to feeding ourselves a mental diet of poison.

Cultivating the mental habit that sees our own and others' beauty brings happiness to ourselves and others; it enables us to feel and to extend love. Leaving aside the mental habit that finds faults prevents suffering for ourselves and others. This should be the heart of our spiritual practice. For this reason, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, "My religion is kindness."